Press Release
For Immediate Release
29 January 2007
ACTE Response to Request for Information: Restoring America's Travel Brand, A National Strategy to Compete for International Visitors
Alexandria, VA -- I am writing on behalf of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), a not-for-profit education organization representing the global business travel industry. ACTE’s mission is to support international corporate growth and economic stability through the smooth interchange of business travel. ACTE accomplishes this goal through a worldwide educational program that addresses industry issues such as transportation legislation, data privacy, security, travel technology, service concerns, advanced managerial technique, business resiliency and corporate social responsibility. Our complete agenda can be found at www.acte.org.
ACTE members are drawn primarily from multinational corporations (heavy manufacturing, science, technology, agriculture, the energy industry, and the world’s financial community), and supplier companies (airlines, hotels, car rental companies and from the credit card industry). Our global membership spans 49 countries with forty-seven percent of our members residing outside of the U.S. ACTE’s global membership is directly responsible for $150 billion of indirect spend annually. These expenditures cover airfare, hotel, surface transportation, restaurant, meetings, and conventions -- a substantial percentage of which is spent in the U.S market. ACTE has offices in Virginia, London, Paris, Johannesburg, Singapore, and Buenos Aires to help support our diverse membership.
ACTE represents the strongest core-user group of international business travelers visiting the United States.
The Challenge:
Reports indicating that the U.S. remains a strong destination for tourism, business, conventions, meetings, and medical travel are encouraging, but are offset by new figures that indicate the country has not captured any of the 20 percent growth in country-to-country travel since 2000. In fact, it has been reported that the U.S. share of revenue from international travel has dropped 29 percent since 1992, totaling an estimated $43 billion in 2005 alone.
The proliferation of new destinations to previously remote parts of the world, improved infrastructure in these countries, and new communication venues to promote these destinations are competing with the U.S. as a business and tourist destination. The increased difficulties in acquiring U.S. visas, vacillating changes in travel document policy, and high-pressure security issues, are building the case for some companies and individuals to take their business outside the U.S. The case for selecting other countries, is strengthened by increased U.S. taxes -- federal, state, or municipal -- on airline tickets, hotel tariffs, and rental car rates that are steadily driving up the cost of doing business in the U.S., while not adding anything to the return on the business travel investment.
Announcing proposed changes to acceptable travel documentation, listing new exceptions to the rules, establishing deadlines and then reestablishing deadlines (as is the ongoing case of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative) only serves to confuse international travelers. Requiring sensitive information on travelers is counterproductive when these initiatives may be contrary to EU law and directives. Also, the off-line development of programs like the Automated Targeting System (ATS) can be frustrating to international and domestic travelers alike.
Developing A Solution:
We are pleased that the U.S. Department of Commerce is exploring a national strategy to compete for international visitors. The designation “international visitors” is especially appropriate as every business traveler who comes to the U.S. is a potential tourist -- and so are their families. In looking at the scope of the concerns of the non-U.S. traveling public, it becomes apparent that many of the issues that impact tourism and business destination revenues are intertwined and should not be left to a marketing strategy alone. The Association of Corporate Travel Executives recommends that an encompassing national travel strategy be drafted.
This strategy should address safety, security, infrastructure development, policy development, taxation, public health, and the environment -- in addition to a marketing component that promotes the U.S. as a positive business and tourism destination. This is the best way to encourage growing tourism and expanded business travel to the U.S.
ACTE Recommendations:
This strategy should include the following key points:
1) Creation of a ranking position (Assistant Deputy Secretary) empowering a government official to serve as a liaison between the travel community and various federal agencies (DHS, DOC, CBP, HHS, DOS etc.). The primary function of this office would be to alert components of the international travel community of legislative, regulatory, and policy developments, to analyze the impact of these actions on the industry, and to keep the industry (and millions of travelers) informed.
2) Short-term economic gains should not take precedence over long-tern industry safeguards.
Health: Action to block a proposal by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requiring airlines to store data relating to the seating of passengers -- in the interests of identifying travelers exposed to contagion -- is shortsighted. The reasoning behind this move is to alleviate extra expense to the world’s carriers.
• The most significant financial damage to international air travel during this decade was inflicted by the SARS infection. As limited as the spread of this disease was, it cost the travel industry a conservative $9 billion (USD). This is far in excess to the cost incurred by the airlines.
• With government reports claiming that nearly 40 percent of the nation’s workforce could be affected by a pandemic, front-line detection and containment is crucial.
• Since contagion detection is so important to the nation’s interest, airline costs for maintaining seating data should be shared with the government.
Safety: Calls to eliminate the TSA’s screening of all baggage arriving in the U.S. are premature, until a more reliable, sophisticated method of determining that biological and radioactive material is always prevented from being loaded on an aircraft.
3) Realistic time
4) New approach to taxation on travel products and services. The first issue that may require consideration entails taxation of the airline industry, and added on taxes to rental cars and hotel rates. Transportation taxes are now funding many non-transportation-related projects -- like stadiums. Rather than penalize travelers coming into the country or a particular city, user-taxes should be generated that apply specifically to consumers requiring a major municipal or state investment. (Such as ticket holders who want a new sports venue.)
5) Increased investment in consular and visa offices in Asia and Latin America. International business development in China, India, Brazil, Venezuela, and Mexico is growing at an exponential rate, offering the U.S. (and the world) vast new markets. Business travelers from many industrial cities in these countries are often subject to long (expensive) side trips and delays in applying for visas. ACTE strongly urges that a substantially increased budget for visa office infrastructure and personnel in these countries be made a priority in a proposed national travel strategy.
ACTE’s Commitment:
The need for a national travel and tourism strategy is clear. Yet that need can only be filled by incorporating authorities from the international travel industry into the planning, decision-making, and deployment processes. International travel to the U.S. will increase when services are improved, when excessive costs are reduced, and when global travelers are greeted by practical, seamless procedures.
The Association of Corporate Travel Executives has a distinguished history of working with every major travel agency, and travel service supplier. Our global resources -- as a global survey vehicle, industry sounding board, educational platform, and/or beta testing group -- are at the Commerce Department’s disposal. Please let us know if we can meet to discuss how we can help the DOC.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Susan Gurley
For more information, contact:
Debbie Flynn
CEO
Brighter Group
The Pod, London's Vertical Gateway
Bridges Wharf, Battersea
London SW11 3BE England
T: 020 7326 9880
F: 020 7326 9890
E: [email protected]
W: www.brightergroup.com